CALGARY - The No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (11-1-2-0) managed to take down the Mount Royal Cougars (4-8-0-2) by the score of 2-1 in an exciting Saturday matinee at the Flames Community Arenas.
Hannah Clayton-Carroll and
Logan Boyd scored the Thunderbird markers while Sarah Wenninger increased her team lead in points as she scored the lone Cougars' goal.
"A ton of credit to Mount Royal," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas of the hosts. "They played us hard and played a tough game. They put us back on our heels and tested us. It was an exciting game, it was back and forth and we exchanged a [lot] of chances. At the end of our day our penalty kill shut them out. We only had two power play attempts, [but] we looked good on the power play."
The Thunderbirds opened the scoring just a minute and a half into the contest. Cougars' goalie Zoe DeBeauville stopped a Thunderbirds' shot only to see the rebound come to the opposite circle where Clayton-Carroll beat DeBeaville for her fifth of the year.
The Cougars managed to tie the game with 13 minutes remaining in the first period. On a goal that looked much like the Thunderbirds opener,
Tory Micklash let out a deep rebound on the Cougars first shot of the game. The puck found the stick of Sarah Wenninger who shot the puck into the open cage for her seventh goal of the year.
The hosts were given a chance to take the lead when Jaedon Cook got her stick in the feet of a Cougars' player seven minutes into the second period. However, as they did for the past two games, the Thunderbirds penalty kill fought tenaciously for pucks and left MRU empty handed.
Following the Cougars' power play, it was the Thunderbirds' special teams that went to work after a slashing penalty by Nicollette Seper. The Thunderbirds spent most of the two minutes in the offensive zone, shortly followed by two great scoring chances from
Kathleen Cahoon and
Cassandra Vilgrain, both turned away by DeBeauville and cleared out by the Cougars' defence.
The momentum was halted late in the second when the goal scorer, Clayton-Carroll, got her stick tied up in the mid-section of a Cougars' player, shortly before time expired in the period.
The Thunderbirds managed to kill the penalty to start the third, regaining the momentum as they began their offensive pursuit yet again.
Eight minutes into the period the Thunderbirds broke the deadlock. On a nifty play,
Celine Tardif sent a slap-pass from the blue line down beside the net to
Haneet Parhar who slid a terrific pass to
Logan Boyd in front of the net. All alone, Boyd beat DeBeaville with a wrist shot, giving her team a one-goal lead.
That was all the insurance the Thunderbirds would need as Micklash turned aside 25 of 26 shots for her second win in as many days. DeBeauville stopped 22 of 24 shots in a losing effort for the Cougars.
"[Logan] Boyd made a nice play to win for us, and Tory [Micklash] was great," said Thomas. "Our veteran experience came out tonight and helped pull us through."
"We need to stick to the process. That will carry us through. It's a great way to finish the first half of the season."
The Cougars will be back in action next weekend as they travel to Manitoba for a set against the Bisons. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds will return to Calgary for two games against the Calgary Dinos.
